The Story Of Vintage Map

Some time ago walking through streets of Tokyo I found at the local flee market a vintage map. The moment I saw it, I was fascinated how beautiful it is and how detailed it was. In the corner of the map the long legend explained the complicated symbols. The texture of this map, the colors and graphic patterns matched each other perfectly, together creating a piece of art.

Making Vintage Map

This image of old map was haunting me for a long time, and I had to do something with it. Firstly, my love for urban plans as well as street plans of cities made a great role in creating a current street map of Tokyo. Simple line map, but I was surprised how good it looks. However it was missing something. I started to use my graphic design skills to recreate the mood of a vintage look.
Looking for the old style paper, deciding the color palette as well as watercolor finish was my priority.

Ultimately Tokyo was recreated as a vintage map. The moment I finished this small poster project, I started thinking how different cites such as New York, Chicago, Boston or Paris would look like. I showed to my friend his hometown (Boston) to ask for opinion, and he asked me: “Can I have it on T-Shirt?”. I didn’t image that my small map project can be used on clothes, pillows or phone cases. It seams that there are more city loving people than just me.

Now I have my three favorite cites (Tokyo, New York, London) hanging as vintage map posters. I lived in all of them and I have great memories. Although the streets pattern looks like abstract art I see places in it. Places that I used to go with friends and family.